Tuesday 17 April
We were trapped in Dover Marina, behind lock gates and a swing bridge. We knew that we would only be able to escape at the correct part of the tide, at about 10:30 in the morning, but calculated that we could not reach our next destination on the same tide, so the earliest we could arrive was about 10:00 in the evening. Having worked out our likely speed for the distance, it was expected to be a fairly leisurely trip, possibly with time to kill en route. Although it was going to be a slow start to the day, we still woke up at the "silly o'clock" times that we have been doing. It is taking a while to adjust our body clocks even by the 1 hour difference to continental Europe. We filled the morning with some maintenance and cleaning, and I had some work related things to attend to.
Once it was time to leave, we radioed the marina to ask them to swing the bridge for us. We had been told to be absolutely ready when we made this call as they like to disrupt the traffic, pedestrians etc for as short a time as necessary. It seemed like an interminable wait until the bridge did eventually move out of the way, but it was probably about 15 minutes. The marina official did radio back to apologise for the delay. Even before we were truly clear of the lock, we were on the radio to the port control, asking for permission to leave the harbour. As yesterday, we seemed to have chosen a good moment as there were no ferries moving at that time. As Britain's busiest port, there are very strict controls on vessel movements, you can imagine the problems that Europe would face if it were to have one of its lifelines to Britain cut.
Immediately outside the harbour we encountered some of the roughest waters we have seen in a long time. There was a stiff breeze blowing and the inevitable confused waters bouncing back off the harbour walls. We struggled initially to make much headway, the Speed Over Ground (SOG) showing just over 1 knot for a time. Steadily however we inched our way away from the harbour entrance, the waves eased and the speed picked up a little.
In the distance we could see two strange shapes, which eventually turned out to be the power station at Dungness. We spent several hours working our way towards them against the tide. You can imagine my frustration when having eventually passed them, I cam off my time on watch, sat in he cockpit looking back and there they were again, although this time starting to move away from us a little faster as the tide had turned in our favour.
The visibility was fantastic, we had clear views of the French coast over an arc of about 150 degrees all afternoon and even after dark we could still see the lights clearly. By late afternoon, the wind direction and strength had become helpful, and for an hour or so we had glorious sailing conditions, without the noise of the engine. All too soon though the wind died away. We were still monitoring our likely arrival time which we did not want to be too late, so resorted to mechanical assistance again.
Although there was little cloud, there was only a new moon so a comparatively dark night. We kept a close watch, one of us looking on each side for the lobster pots and their gear that we knew would be dotted about. We passed a few close by, and briefly collected the line for one, but this soon dropped off and fell away behind us.
Approaching Eastbourne was relatively tricky at night, the channels are well buoyed, but it is difficult to spot them against the other lights of the land. We conversed with the marina keeper a couple of times and arrived at about 10:15 into the lock, which he had opened for us. The channel into the marina has been affected by the winter storms and is not as deep currently as it is meant to be, but we negotiated it safely. Once in the lock and while it was filling, we were given details of where we should berth and all of the other information that we need. We were safely moored by about 11:00, and ready to unwind and then sleep.
To leave tomorrow, we would have to exit the lock by about 04:30, and that isn't going to happen, so it will be a rest day.
Once it was time to leave, we radioed the marina to ask them to swing the bridge for us. We had been told to be absolutely ready when we made this call as they like to disrupt the traffic, pedestrians etc for as short a time as necessary. It seemed like an interminable wait until the bridge did eventually move out of the way, but it was probably about 15 minutes. The marina official did radio back to apologise for the delay. Even before we were truly clear of the lock, we were on the radio to the port control, asking for permission to leave the harbour. As yesterday, we seemed to have chosen a good moment as there were no ferries moving at that time. As Britain's busiest port, there are very strict controls on vessel movements, you can imagine the problems that Europe would face if it were to have one of its lifelines to Britain cut.
Immediately outside the harbour we encountered some of the roughest waters we have seen in a long time. There was a stiff breeze blowing and the inevitable confused waters bouncing back off the harbour walls. We struggled initially to make much headway, the Speed Over Ground (SOG) showing just over 1 knot for a time. Steadily however we inched our way away from the harbour entrance, the waves eased and the speed picked up a little.
In the distance we could see two strange shapes, which eventually turned out to be the power station at Dungness. We spent several hours working our way towards them against the tide. You can imagine my frustration when having eventually passed them, I cam off my time on watch, sat in he cockpit looking back and there they were again, although this time starting to move away from us a little faster as the tide had turned in our favour.
The visibility was fantastic, we had clear views of the French coast over an arc of about 150 degrees all afternoon and even after dark we could still see the lights clearly. By late afternoon, the wind direction and strength had become helpful, and for an hour or so we had glorious sailing conditions, without the noise of the engine. All too soon though the wind died away. We were still monitoring our likely arrival time which we did not want to be too late, so resorted to mechanical assistance again.
Although there was little cloud, there was only a new moon so a comparatively dark night. We kept a close watch, one of us looking on each side for the lobster pots and their gear that we knew would be dotted about. We passed a few close by, and briefly collected the line for one, but this soon dropped off and fell away behind us.
Approaching Eastbourne was relatively tricky at night, the channels are well buoyed, but it is difficult to spot them against the other lights of the land. We conversed with the marina keeper a couple of times and arrived at about 10:15 into the lock, which he had opened for us. The channel into the marina has been affected by the winter storms and is not as deep currently as it is meant to be, but we negotiated it safely. Once in the lock and while it was filling, we were given details of where we should berth and all of the other information that we need. We were safely moored by about 11:00, and ready to unwind and then sleep.
To leave tomorrow, we would have to exit the lock by about 04:30, and that isn't going to happen, so it will be a rest day.
Distance covered today - 48 nautical miles
Total distance covered -
Steve (and Tricia)
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